No excuse for state's secrecy

OUR VIEW

How badly must the state of Tennessee want to carry out executions, that an effort is under way to make it so that obtaining drugs for lethal injection is carried out in secret?

Take a look at Senate Bill 0154/House Bill 0148, sponsored by Sen. Mark Norris and Rep. Gerald McCormick, which is advancing in the legislature. The bill ostensibly is about ensuring that offenders who complete alternative incarceration programs fulfill terms and conditions set by the Department of Correction. An amendment by Rep. Ryan Haynes calls for information to be treated as confidential, including "a person or entity involved in the procurement or provision of chemicals, equipment, supplies or other items for use in carrying out a sentence of death."

Why?

The state's supply of sodium thiopental, one of three drugs used together to carry out lethal injection, was confiscated in 2011 by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration because it had been imported illegally. Tennessee and other states with the death penalty have been trying to find alternative drugs with little success. And The Associated Press learned through an open records request that Tennessee has also been unable to get pancuronium bromide, a muscle relaxant given to the inmate before the final injection, which stops the heart.

With both drugs unavailable, Tennessee's death penalty is stalled. The last execution was in December 2009. Tennessee has 83 inmates on death row.

In 2007, the last time the state was stymied over protocols, Gov. Phil Bredesen ordered a moratorium on executions until a report could be conducted and updates made to execution manuals. That time around, as AP has noted, defense attorneys and inmates were able to ask questions of state officials.

This bill would certainly prevent that "problem," along with due process of law. In fact, the people of Tennessee could be kept in the dark about any methods of execution that they or a court might perceive as cruel and unusual.

Perhaps we have become desensitized to the lack of information that we get about elected officials' business dealings and campaign contributions, but when it comes to the state's power over life and death - no matter whose - the effect on our collective humanity is insidious.

If the bill passes, we will not be far from the ability to conduct secret executions, as foreign dictatorships have done, to the dismay of the world.

There is no reasonable justification for keeping lethal injection procedures a secret. Correctional officials are supposed to help protect against illegal activity, not take part.

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No excuse for state's secrecy

How badly must the state of Tennessee want to carry out executions, that an effort is under way to make it so that obtaining drugs for lethal injection is carried out in secret?

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